‘Emancipation’ Review: Peeling Back The Levels To The Story Of Will Smith’s “Whipped Peter”
01.12.2022 - 09:25
/ deadline.com
“Whipped Peter” spent 10 days traveling through the alligator- and insect-filled Louisiana swamps to join the Union Army after his escape from Lyons plantation in Louisiana. During his medical examination, onlookers marveled at the constellation of raised scars on his back from constant whippings. When war photographers took a picture of his back, and shared it with others, it reminded white people of the viciousness experienced by the enslaved. Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation retells the story of Peter and his blood-soaked journey to freedom. Written by Bill Collage (Exodus: Gods and Kings), the film is an unforgiving portrait of a man separated from his family and risking his life to reunite with them.
Emancipation begins when Peter (Will Smith) is sold to a work camp to build the railroad. On the journey, he sees the heads of Black men lining the roads and Civil War deserters hanging from trees by their neck. What awaits him at the work camp is even worse, with endless whippings, beatings, brandings and death. The enslaved work day and night, and sleep in cages like animals–but although the situation is perilous, Peter encourages others to remember that God is with them. It is then he is swiftly reminded to look around at the circumstances and question if God is really there at all.
While working, Peter overhears Confederate soldiers Leeds (Grant Harvey) and Howard (Steven Ogg) having a conversation about how President Abraham Lincoln has freed the slaves and that the Union Army is located in Baton Rouge. Upon hearing this news, he and the other enslaved discuss escape, but don’t have a plan for how to do it. However, when the opportunity arises, Peter and the others go running for their lives, with hunter Jim Fassel
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